My journey with Google started in June of 2007. I had graduated college and was preparing for my first job as a teacher. I think it was my friend Chris who first told me about this service that it like Microsoft Word, but it saves your files automatically and you can access it anywhere you have an internet connection. Having to write lesson plans at school and modify them at home was becoming tedious, especially when I couldn't remember which version on my 256 mb flash drive was the most accurate. Google Docs was the way to go!
Flash forward about a year, and I heard about this VERY prestigious and exclusive community called the Google Certified Teachers. If you put the word exclusive in front of something, I want it. Over the next few years, I worked diligently towards my goal of becoming a Google Certified Teacher. I kept track of those who were applying, watched their submission videos, and kept looking at the application. 2 years ago I found a podcast called Google Educast on the EdReach Network. The hosts of the podcast were all GCTs (Google Certified Teachers), that's what threw my desire into overdrive! I had already been using the Google Drive products in my classroom. I was drinking the Google Kool-Aid, and wanted to learn everything that I could about the products and how I could use them even better!
In May of 2013 I attended my first Google Event. It was the Texas Google Summit (#TXGOO). I dusted off my dormant twitter account and started following the presenters, and educators who I came in contact with. I saw how other people were sharing quotes from the presenters, so I started to follow suit. One of the sessions I attended was Amy Mayer's session on becoming a GCT. Here it was, I was about to learn how to get into that club that I've been eyeing for many years! One quote stood out among the rest. One little piece of advice I took to heart was when she said, "Be honest, but not humble." There it was. I was being too humble in everything that I was doing. I'm not one to beg for the spotlight, I prefer to let others know that it was a group effort. At that moment I decided that I was going to work on being more outgoing.
At the conference I also learned about these 2 people called the "3 Tech Ninjas" Todd Nesloney (@techninjatodd) and Stacey Huffine (@techninjastacey). I started following them on twitter and learned that the things they were doing in a district VERY close to mine, were the same things that I wanted to do! Then the kicker, I heard that they were going to be at the conference MY district was hosting! I attended their session, and was inspired, but didn't have the confidence that I could do what they were doing. Then this past summer, they came back to our conference. Again, I listened to their session, but this time it struck a chord. Todd talked about how he shares EVERYTHING he does in his classroom. My curriculum was going to be all new, so what better time to make a change of the way I do things than now? I started a class blog and twitter. I pushed the envelope further than I ever had before. Curriculum Coordinators started hearing about the level of integration I was doing in my classroom, and how I was sharing it out on the internet, and it garnered interest.
Finally, I decided it was time to apply for the Google Teacher Academy! It was in Austin, so what better opportunity? I will tell you, when you fill out the application, be prepared. They will ask you some basic essay questions, but then you also need to submit your video. My advice is to complete your video first, and then work on the application.
My next post will be about the Google Teacher Academy!
